This statement was not issued by an evil or hard-hearted man: “If I were to be in command in Germany I would kick out all Arabs and Muslims from the country. Those who married a Muslim would be given either the possibility of divorcing or of exiting the country with her.”
However, many other good men and women share the same sentiments as they are genuinely afraid of the escalating situation of terrorism in Europe. Anyone in his or her right senses feels some fear or unease, and with good reason. The recent terrorist attacks in Germany and France are a justifiable reason for fear.
The massacre in Nice on July 14 is still fresh in everybody’s mind. A joyful celebration where families were enjoying themselves watching a fireworks display ended in unspeakable tragedy. A French Tunisian rammed, shot and killed everyone in his way indiscriminately. All deaths are awful to contemplate but the untimely and violent death of children is most heart rending.
Then terror moved north to Bavaria. The country that welcomed refugees in the hundreds of thousands had its love answered with hate. A 17-year-old Afghan had been living in Würzburg for two years. He arrived there when he was 15 as an unaccompanied minor and was taken care of. Then, on a fateful evening, he used a knife and an axe to injure five people.
Within the space of a couple of days an 18-year-old reclusive teenager born in Germany but of Iranian origin went on a shooting spree, killing nine people, mostly teenagers like him. This was not an incident of terrorism but probably many still think it was terrorism.
Just three days later, a 27-year-old Syrian who was refused refugee status blew himself up and injured 15 other people near a festival in Ansback, German.
Last Tuesday terror moved south again. Two Isis soldiers – one of them just 18 years old – killed an 84-year-old priest, Fr Jacques Hamel, during Mass in his church in a suburb of Rouen in northern France. His blood mixed with the blood shed by the Lord for the salvation of the world. There is no other death that is so despicable and glorious at the same time! It reminds us of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero by right-wing extremists – another shepherd who laid down his life for his flock. Their martyrdom, like Christ’s, is not in vain.
Isis is not the paladin of Muslims and the enemy of Christians. Isis is the enemy of humanity: Christian, Jews, Muslims and all
Terrorism has moved from spectacular acts by trained groups to lone wolves using anything to spread terror. Soft targets are selected, making it almost impossible to prevent such attacks. The young age of most terrorists adds to the horror of the situation. How can minds be so warped from such a young age?
Fear is justified as the world is at war. But as Pope Francis said aboard the papal flight on the way to Poland, this is not a war of religions. “All religions want peace,” he said emphatically. So beware of playing into the hands of the terrorists by saying otherwise.
Isis, the demonic movement behind this terrorism, is not the paladin of Muslims and the enemy of Christians. Isis is the enemy of humanity: Christian, Jews, Muslims and all. Last Friday week, a German-Iranian not connected to Isis killed nine people in Munich – three of whom were Turks, probably Muslim. The following day, Isis operatives killed at least 80 Muslims during a peaceful demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan.
On July 4, a suicide truck bomb ripped through a busy shopping district in Baghdad, killing at least 200 people. On the same day, Isis operatives attacked three South Arabian cities, including Medina, outside Prophet Mosque – one of the largest and holiest sites after Mecca.
It is also a grave mistake and injustice to move from the particular to the universal. It is immoral to blame all refugees and Muslims for the vile acts of an insignificant minority. The spokesperson of Germany’s Würzburg diocese, where the train attack occurred, was right to stress that the attack would not be used “as a general indictment against refugees. It would be much more dangerous to suggest they all pose some kind of danger”.
One should remember that far from posing any threat, barring an insignificant minority, refugees and asylum seekers have left their countries in the most difficult of circumstances to escape threats in their home countries.
I address my penultimate comment to those Christians for whom it has become fashionable to quote and misquote Pope Francis while behaving in a diametrically opposite way to what he actually proposes. On March 12 he proposed the parable of the Good Samaritan as a way of life for Christians. The Lord, he said, will remind us of the situations in which we saw him in those around us and did nothing.
“Do you remember that time on the street of Jerusalem and Jericho? That man who was half dead was me. Do you remember? That hungry child was me. Do you remember? That migrant who many times they wanted to throw out was me.
“Those grandparents, abandoned in the nursing home, was me. That sick person in the hospital, who no one visited, was me.”
The Pope carried this same message to Poland’s political elite who have a negative policy towards asylum seekers. Last Wednesday, Francis challenged their policy, stating that the Poles needed “a spirit of readiness to welcome those fleeing from wars and hunger”. His heartfelt appeal to Poles was: overcome fear to achieve the greater good.
Many Maltese would do well to heed this appeal.
My final comment is addressed to civil authorities. The strategy of Isis is clear: soft targets, the use of lone wolves; nothing is to be considered sacred or safe. The fact that there are, up to now, no credible threats to our country is not a good reason to lower our guard. If anything it should make us more vigilant. We would be stupid if Malta’s security services are not on full alert 24/7.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt